


A Raid, A Rescue, A Rampage

by DragonPriestess



Series: Parallel Trouble Adventures [1]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Post-2015 RID, Post-Lost Light, Post-TF Prime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 16:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18944767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonPriestess/pseuds/DragonPriestess
Summary: After defeating the Functionalist Council, it was decided that the Starship Lost Light be decommissioned. On a last victory run, the crew replicated the quantum jump that allowed the duplication of the Lost Light & its crew. These are the adventures of that duplicate Lost Light.





	A Raid, A Rescue, A Rampage

 

_Previously:_

After defeating the Functionalist Council, it was decided that the Starship Lost Light be decommissioned. On a last victory run, the crew replicated the quantum jump that allowed the duplication of the Lost Light & its crew.

These are the adventures of that duplicate Lost Light.

 ------------------------------------

  

After the first week, the giddiness of escaping the ship’s decommissioning disappeared.

After the second week, the crew’s boredom reappeared.

After the third week, most of the bots are short-tempered, with some even suggesting they try to find their way back to New Cybertron.

 

“What they need”, Rodimus announced, “is a new quest.”

The weekly command staff meeting is, at this point, less an actual decision-making session, than an excuse to munch on some energon goodies and polish off the last bottle of their triple-filtered engex. Very slowly polish off, since Megatron rarely pours himself a drink, and Ultra Magnus’ is so watered-down it’s basically just water.

Ultra Magnus shifted to protest to the suggestion but Megatron interrupted him. “That’s not a bad idea, actually.”

Rodimus choked on an energon goodie at his co-captain’s agreement.

“Although before we can do anything, we should take stock of what we have and what we don’t have.”

Ultra Magnus looked at his ever present datapad.

“On the plus side, the engine core is in good condition, the fuel rods are at maximum, and the crew is more than our original number. On the minus side, damages to the ship itself haven’t fully been repaired yet, energon & other supplies are low, and the crew is more than our original number.”

“That just means we need to dock in a space port or planet or both.”

“Easy for you to say, Rodimus. But we warped into an _unknown_ part of the galaxy. Emphasis on the unknown. We’re navigating on uncharted waters, as humans would say.”

“Pssh, piece of cake. We just have the science guys look at the nearest stars & then have them calculate the probability & the location of inhabitable planets revolving on it. They we focus our long-range scanners to confirm their calculations. We go to the one with the highest probability, land, restock if readily available, process first if not, and then think about the harder problem, which is what new quest to adopt.”

Megatron chuckled. Times like he knew his old self would’ve wished they were able to persuade Rodimus to join the Decepticons millions of years ago. Old Megatron would’ve stamped the ego out of him, bashed in some discipline, and he would’ve become a fine lieutenant, even maybe a second-in-command.

Not that he wanted his old self back though, no slagging way.

Ultra Magnus opened his comm.

“Perceptor & Brainstorm, please report to meeting room one. I repeat, Perceptor & Brainstorm, to meeti--”

An energy wave surged to them. It was silent but visible, a cold unnatural blue that sliced through their midsection (in Ultra Magnus’ case, upper thigh).

“I feel sick,” Rodimus said queasily, as he sat down in the nearest seat.

“Just a slight headache, nothing more,” Megatron said.

“I didn’t even feel anything,” Ultra Magnus said, puzzled.

However, the ship felt it, and multiple alarms went off. Megatron opened multiple video calls to various parts of the ship. Engineering reported no damages or effect to the engines. The bridge reported no attacks. Security reported no intruders. And medbay reported nausea & headaches, but nothing more. After a few minutes the alarms stopped.

“Aw, what a bummer,” Rodimus pouted. A life-and-death emergency would’ve been his ticket out of the grievance hearing he was required to go to after this one. But he spoke too soon.

A request for a call came in after a cycle, and Blaster showed up in the screen, looking both concerned & excited.

“Here’s something interesting, captains. We got the alarms off, except for one. I’ve rechecked it, and it’s the real deal. We’re receiving an Autobot distress signal. Out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Yes!” Rodimus yelled. Megatron rolled his optics, while Magnus tsked.

“There’s something weird about the signal though. I can’t really pinpoint what, but it feels somewhat, I dunno, out of sync?”

“So, it could be a trap too? Double yes!”

“Copy that, Blaster, thank you. Crankcase,” Megatron called to the mech manning the pilot seat. “Set course to the source of the signal. Have it within viewing distance but do not approach until we give the go ahead.”

“By your command, Megatron.”

After the comm, Ultra Magnus mused, “The Galactic Council? Or the Black Block Consortia?”

“Who cares? Nothing will perk up the crew's enthusiasm than a spiffy new adventure!”

And with that, Rodimus practically ran out to assemble his boarding crew.

 

The Lost Light arrived to what looks like the aftermath of an attack.

A wedge-shaped black battleship is holding a reddish cruiser in its neon green electron nets. Even at their distance they can see a gaping hole on the starboard side of the smaller vessel, where old-fashioned chain cables are attached, dragging something from the inside.

“As far as I can detect,” Blaster said, “the hails are coming from the smaller ship.”

“The red vessel seems to be dead in the water,” Hot Spot said. “Although-” he presses a series of buttons, “I can distinguish multiple spark readings.”

“Does these ships register in our database?” Megatron asked.

“No, sir.”

“Maximum on the shields, Hot Spot.” Megatron commed Rodimus. “If you’re going to rescue that vessel, you better do it now.”

“Everybody just came aboard the Leading Light. Cargo door’s opening right now.”

“Detecting energy build up in their cannons, sir!”

“Crankcase, evasive maneuvers. Hot Spot, ready the photon missile launchers. Fire on my signal.”

 “Aye, sir.”

Two blasts sent the Lost Light into wild rocking.

“Shields down to 74% but holding!”

“Blaster, call the Leading Light. Ask their ETA on the red vessel.”

“They are just a couple of kliks away, but enemy fire is stopping their advance.”

Another blast rocked the ship.

“Shields at 59%!”

Megatron mentally noted to debrief Hot Spot later about keeping cool under pressure. But for now, “Aim launchers 1 & 2 at point 34, 45 on the screen,” which is an area of the enemy ship’s helm farthest from the red vessel. “On my mark, now.”

Two loud shooms vibrated underneath their pedes, one after the other.A nano-klik later, a burst of light hit an invisible barrier, but the second one blasted directly into the large battleship, which visibly shook.

“Megatron, Rodimus commed that they’ve successfully boarded the vessel, and are now fighting off the raiders.”

Suddenly, a flash of blaster light sprouted from the gaping hole on the cruiser’s starboard, and a mech tumbled out in space. The net vanished and the chain cables retracted, carrying with it two pods. A few bots jumped from the cruiser & climbed up the cable, including a large blue mech who cheekily saluted the Lost Light. And then all disappeared into the hull of the battleship. 

“Stay your servos, Hot Spot. Crankcase, approach quickly, before they--”

But it’s too late. The black ship disappeared, warping into the empty space, leaving the smaller vessel behind. 

It was so easy to slip back to old habits of venting his frustrations by destroying something, sometimes even his staff. Right now, the bots in the bridge are looking him nervously.

He vented slowly & calmed himself. “At ease, gentlemechs. Blaster, any news from Rodimus?”

The relieved Blaster replied, “Drift & Cyclonus are searching the cruiser, but all raiders escaped. First Aid is scanning the survivors. Meanwhile, Rodimus is fetching that bot that got blasted out of the ship.”

He waved at the view screen which showed their co-captain, slowly torpedoing to the floating mech.

“Hey guys,” the familiar voice sounded upbeat despite the battle that just happened.

“Just coming up to that bot, careful not to overshoot… wow, he’s leaking a lot of energon… hey, wait a minute…” The view screen showed the red mech holding a yellow bot.

“I think- it’s Bumblebee.”

 ------------------------------------------------

 

“Out of the way!”

Startled crewbots plastered themselves on the walls as a MARB sped through the corridor of the Lost Light, towards the medbay. Lying on it was a yellow mech, straddled by First Aid, who was quickly administering, well, first aid, while on the comm.

“Medbay, priority one! Patient was shot on the chest. Extensive energon outflow, with the spark fading fast!”

 

Meanwhile, the red cruiser was slowly being pulled into the Lost Light by a tractor beam. Inside the vessel, Rodimus, Cyclonus & Drift are sifting through the wreckage, which are surprisingly not much. The only real damage is the wide hole on the starboard, which indicated two things: one is that that the raiders intend to get more than those two pods, and two, that they wanted to take the crew alive.

It was a moderately sized vessel, fit for a crew of ten, and is divided into three sections. There was a bridge, a modest cargo bay, and a pod room containing what is supposed to be ten stasis pods. Except two, presumably both still containing someone, were stolen. Out of the remaining eight, two were occupied. One contains a white & blue femme and the other a red mech. They both seem uninjured. Counting the two taken plus the Bumblebee-look-alike, that means there are just five people that were on board.

Unfortunately, that estimate was wrong.

One clue that it was wrong was the usually taciturn Cyclonus’ gasp as he flashed his light at the end of the pods room. The horned mech quickly commed the medbay.

“A second MARB, quick! We have another victim!”

Rodimus & Drift rushed to his side. Rodimus also turned on his comms. “Priority one! I repeat priority one! The victim is a mini-bot, even smaller than Rewind or Tailgate. He’s missing practically his entire left side—”

Cyclonus brushed him aside, saying urgently, “There’s no time.”

He transforms into his jet mode. “Put him in.”

With his charge leaking massive amounts of energon, Cyclonus quickly flew the orange mini-bot into the Lost Light.

 

The co-captains organized an investigating team, consisting of Roller, Nautica, Drift, and Brainstorm. Drift and Nautica are currently looking for clues in the cruiser. Meanwhile, Roller and Brainstorm are browsing through databases regarding the black battleship & its crew.

After he relinquished bridge command to Ultra Magnus, who insisted the two captains recharge, Megatron instead went to the medbay. As expected, the infirmary is a hubbub of chaotic but organized activities, and all medics on board were there.

Ratchet & Velocity were feverishly trying to keep the yellow bot’s (Bumblebee?) unstable spark from flat-lining, while Nickel & First Aid were trying to stem the massive energon leaks from the orange mini-bot, who looked even far worse.

Giving the four medics space, Megatron instead went to the less critical patients. The two bots were removed from their pods but were still unconscious.Checking their vitals, he noted that they look normal, well, as normal as anyone who is in stasis lock.

Their line-free features show that they are young. He guessed they are at most a vorn old, and most likely sparked during or after the war. Both are unknown to him, although the lanky red mech with spiky helm protrusions seems to be familiar in a very vague way.

The femme however, Megatron is quite sure he doesn’t know her. He can surmise though that from her white & blue colors, she is a law enforcement bot. Does Camiens use standard Cybertronian lawbot regulation colors too?

Megatron took two hypodermics. An injection of simple nanites should help their self-repair systems reboot quicker.

Faster EEG graphs showed that the two are now waking up.Surely enough, after a few nanokliks, the red mech stirred first.

“Greetings. How are you feeling?”

“Ugh. Bee? You sound different--”

But the moment he laid his optics on Megatron, the mech yelled & jumped out of the berth. From his back, he pulled a hilt which flared into an energon sword.

Megatron sighed and mentally noted again to debrief the medbay security personnel to check all bots coming in and out for weapons, _including_ the patients themselves.

The young mech swiped at Megatron, who dodged the attack.

The other medics glanced at them, but seeing that it was Megatron handling the situation, got back what they were doing.

With three swift moves, born out of millennia of experience, Megatron made his opponent drop the sword. And with another pinned him to the ground. He was about to comm for security when a gun nudged at his helm.

"Let him go," said the unknown femme.

She was armed with two guns, one pointed at Megatron & the other pointed at the approaching guards. But before anyone can act, the blue & white bot convulsed and collapsed with a sudden electric shock.

“Threat eliminated,” the medbay diagnostic drone intoned, his claws still crackling with electricity.

 -------------------------------------------------

 

Strongarm woke to find herself in a room that is strangely both familiar and unfamiliar.

The sparse space itself is unknown to her, of course, but the two seats with a table in between, and a large mirror that is likely to be two-way? Definitely a typical police interrogation room. She would know, since she wrote a ninety-page essay on the equipment, protocols, and regulations of Cybertronian interrogation rooms back at the Academy. Heck, she can even guess the dimensions of the room (it’s eight by ten metrons, by the way) or the lock mechanism used in that door (a standard thirty mez combination lock).

Thinking about rules and regulations at a time like this might be silly to others but it did its job of calming Strongarm down. Surely, she thought, this is an Autobot ship. The crew might not know who they were, hence the attack on Sideswipe. For all she know, they must have an old copy of Swipe’s rap sheet and still think he’s the street criminal that he was a few years ago.

She frowned. They did expunge his records when he joined Team Bee...right?

Before she can continue her thoughts, the door opened a huge mech entered. Strongarm automatically tried to stand to attention, but he waved her down.

He instead took the seat opposite to her and with a friendly smile, said, “Hello, my name’s Roller. And you’re--”

“Cadet Strongarm of the Kaon Police Academy, sir. Currently stationed on Earth under Lieutenant Bumblebee,” she said, back ramrod straight.

“That is interesting.” If Roller had eyebrows, he would’ve raised it already.

“And by the way, no need to call me sir. Just Roller, if you don’t mind. I was from Rodion Police Academy myself. But Kaon? Isn’t that city kinda, shall we say, difficult?”

She started to protest, being a true blue Kaonite, but in the end shrugged. She had only lived in two places all her life: Kaon, where she was sparked and bred, and Earth, which she now regards as a second home. She knows she’ll defend both places with all her life. But she has to admit the truth that yes, even with all the rebuilding that had happened to her city after the war, there is still a lot of places where the old shady ways still thrive.

Especially since it still, as it had always been, has the stigma of being a Decepticon stronghold for the majority of the war.

“Kaon is Kaon. Some people keep assuming that it’s a thoroughly awful place. I think that’s biased. Maybe for some parts, sure, but mostly it’s not.”

“You were sparked after the war?”

“Yes, sir.” (Roller: I said no need to call me sir.) “I was with the first batch from the hot spot near the old Kaon mines.”

“And when was the last time you went back home?”

“Just before we left. I needed to present my job training report to the Academy.”

She mulled for a bit. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s just a little over two days ago.”

Roller looked at her pensively. “I see.”

His expression made her anxious. “What is it, si-Roller?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure.”

He stood up. “Well then, Strongarm,” he said, offering his servo for a shake, which she took.

“It was interesting chatting with you. Unfortunately, you have to stay here for a bit while I sort out something with the team.”

“But Roller, what about Sideswipe and the others?”

Roller looked taken aback. “Sideswipe?”

“Yes, the red mech with the annoying smirk and the spiky stuff on his helm?”

“Is that a common name from where you came from?”

It’s Strongarm’s turn to be surprised. What kind of question is that?

“I don’t know any other Sideswipe. But then again, I was sparked after the war. Why?”

Roller nodded, looking satisfied with the answer. He’s probably a different mech from the one he heard so often about. Still, the inconsistencies…

“Ah, it’s nothing. I mistook your friend with someone else.”

He finally stood up and opened the door. Looking back, he reassured her, “I’ll get back to you in a while. Thanks, Strongarm.”

 

Unlike Roller, Drift is having a miserable time.

The moment that he introduced himself, the red mech snorted, and said, “Yeah, right.”

Drift stopped and stared at him. “What’s with that reaction? In fact, what’s with that attitude?”

“I know Drift, and you’re definitely not him. Where’s he and the others, by the way?”

There are only two other bots aside from this mech & the femme on the other room. He’s fairly certain this Drift is not the Bumblebee look-alike or the mini-bot. Perhaps one of the two occupants of the stolen pods?

Rather than answer, Drift said mildly, “No answers until you tell me your name. After all, I gave mine, even if you don’t believe it.”

The mech thought for a bit. “Fine. Fair enough, I suppose. The name’s Sideswipe.”

Drift was astounded.

“Sideswipe? Sunstreaker’s brother, Sideswipe? But he’s, you’re--”

The legs of Sideswipe’s chair skittered, as Sideswipe quickly stood up and leaned closely over the white mech.

“Are you saying you know where Sunny is? Is he okay? Tell me!” Sideswipe exclaimed, guarded hope replacing the disbelief on his face.

“Back off,” Drift quietly said, as his servo automatically went to his sword.

Sideswipe stared back but after a while sat down again.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Sideswipe said holding both servos up down in sincere apology. “I guess I’m a bit angry with the way that big mech with serious Megatron vibes took me down way too easily than my pride can handle…”

Big mech with serious Megatron vibes?

“… then you say you’re Drift, when the Drift I know is this cool samurai guy, with orange and black paint job, and awesome mustache. But hey, you had the swords too like he does, so kudos to that…”

Orange and black paint jobs? What’s a mustache?

“… what took the cake was when you talked about Sunstreaker. I seriously don’t think you’ve met him, since he went missing even before Team Prime arrived on earth. But of course, I can’t discount that maybe you met him during his team’s mission to Nebulos, or may—”

The babbling is giving Drift a headache. So, when Roller peeked in, and asked for a word, his optics almost teared up with relief.

 

As soon as Drift closed the door, he exclaimed, “Oh Primus, you saved me from that guy, thank you! One more klik and I would’ve chopped his helm off!”

“What are you talking about? They’re nice kids.”

“One, they too old to be called kids. And second, maybe the femme that you got, but that mech! I haven’t really interacted with Sideswipe & Sunstreaker that much, but man, terrible twins really does fit the bill.”

Roller held up his servos. “Alright, alright. Next time I’ll let you pick first. Anyway,” he said, slightly frowning. “Have you noticed the inconsistencies?”

“Right from the beginning. That he doesn’t know who Megatron is. That he won’t believe I’m Drift. That he even claims that he’s Sideswipe.”

“As for the femme, that she claimed she was sparked in Kaon, even when it was one of the first cities destroyed. That she said that they came from Cybertron a few days ago, considering we just brought back a new copy of that planet around that same time.”

Roller tapped Drift’s back.

“All these thinking is giving me a headache. Let’s go. Sounds like we need the help of the science-y half of the investigating team.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Aligning the different parts of the Aligned continuity is giving me a headache. :-P  
> If needed, more detailed notes in the next chapter.


End file.
